Icarium
Icarium ick-kair-ee-umTen Very Big Books podcast As pronounced by Steven Erikson at 01:19:26 was a mixed-blood Jaghut — a Jhag.Deadhouse Gates, Dramatis Personae, UK MMPB p.17 He was known under many names: Lifestealer,Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, BCA edition p.871 the maker of machines, the chaser of time, lord of the sand grains,Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 8, US HC p.221 slayer of the ten thousand, and the maker of time. Fiddler recalled the legend of "a Jaghut-blood wanderer around whom swirled, like the blackest wake, rumours of devastation, appalling murders, genocide".Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 11, US HC p.292 His constant companion was Mappo Runt the Trell. Appearance Icarium was described as seven feet tall, but not excessively muscled. His hairless skin was grey, turning to an olive-green colour under intense sun. His skin was usually dyed to disguise its colour. He had a lined, weather-worn face with grey eyes whose pupils were vertical. His canines were prominent, almost tusks. He had long, braided grey hair which he kept dyed black at times.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 1, UK MMPB p.42Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 2, US HC p.78Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 7, US HC p.195The Bonehunters, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.82/84 The resemblance between him and his father was unmistakeable.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 23, US HC p.574 Abilities Icarium was known across the Malaz world as The Slayer, a dangerous being whose rage signified unconstrained destruction. He carried an ancient single-edged longsword sheathed in a bronze-banded boiled-leather scabbard, as well as an antlered hornwood longbow with Warren-etched stone-tipped arrows,Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 1, US HC p.34/36 capable of killing even a dragon. When enraged, Icarium was able to draw on his anger as a form of power, making him lightning fast, tireless, able to withstand extremely powerful magic attacks, and forcing him to kill relentlessly until all around him was lifeless. This fate befell the city of Shikimesh, for example. When the Jhag was on the verge of raging he emitted a deathly high-pitched keening sound and his sword began to take on a strange shivering blur.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 20, US HC p.514-515 His destructive abilities also brought about the annihilation of the city of E'napatha N'apur, a major city in the Seven Cities. A misfired arrow took the life of his travelling companion, enraging him and Icarium killed everyone within the city.The Bonehunters, Chapter 6 He possessed the ability to see in the dark,Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 4, US HC p.113 piercing even the magical shadows of Kurald Emurlahn.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 8, US HC p.224 In Deadhouse Gates Icarium and Mappo traveled to the Pan'potsun Odhan on Seven Cities ostensibly in search of Icarium's ever elusive past.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 1 There the two stumbled upon the dangerous convergence of Soletaken and D'ivers known as the Path of Hands. They narrowly avoided a confrontation with Ryllandaras before encountering the Trell's old friend Messremb. Icarium thought the answers promised at the end of the Path might apply to him as well.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 1, US HC p.36Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 2, US HC p.74 By accident they discovered the gate sought by the shape-shifters within Tesem, a temple of Shadow occupied by High Priest Iskaral Pust. Pust schemed to keep the gate hidden and he manipulated the Jhag and his companion into serving as its powerful guardians.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 4, US HC p.115 They were soon joined at the temple by Fiddler, Apsalar, and Crokus. Icarium and Mappo sought to reunite Apsalar with her father Rellock and promised to lead Fiddler and Crokus to the Azath House Tremorlor. Along the way, they passed through the ruins of an ancient First Empire city that still contained one of Icarium's mechanisms. The Jhag was astonished to discover that the device was 94,000 years old, and Mappo could not bear to tell him that Icarium had been responsible for the city's ruin.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 15, US HC p.414 Ultimately, Mappo revealed to Icarium his history of destructive rages and the Jhag came to believe that imprisonment within the Azath would be a just punishment for his crimes.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 16, US HC p.440 Arriving at Tremorlor, they fought their way through hordes of Soletaken and D'ivers with the aid of the Hounds of Shadow. All the while Mappo struggled to keep Icarium from raging or from becoming imprisoned by the house. After entering the house and passing into the Azath Warren, Icarium and Mappo were separated from the others and soon found themselves near the village of Balahn on the Aren Way. Icarium no longer remembered the events of the last few days or Mappo's admission, and so they headed westward into the Jhag Odhan on their never-ending search for answers.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 24 In Memories of Ice The High Alchemist Baruk of Darujhistan sent a bhokaral servant to Quick Ben while the Seven Cities rebellion was ongoing offering his assistance and alliance. Among the string of words the inarticulate beast shouted was "Danger! Azath! Icarium!"Memories of Ice, Chapter 21, US SFBC p.776-777 In House of Chains As Karsa Orlong traveled through the mountains on the western edge of Raraku he was hunted by a score of Ryllandaras' wolf forms. The D'ivers eventually gave up the chase, but warned the Teblor of two men further up the trail. It noted that if Karsa were to come to blows with one of them, the world would regret it.House of Chains, Chapter 14, US SFBC p.500-503 Karsa soon came upon Icarium and Mappo at the site of an ancient city built on the side of a mesa. Mappo invited Karsa to eat by the fire while Icarium picked through the rubble that partially buried the city. The Trell spoke of Convergences while preparing for the inevitable clash between Icarium and Karsa. Icarium recognised Karsa as one of the fallen Teblor then apologised to Mappo for what the Trell was about to witness and drew his sword.House of Chains, Chapter 14, US SFBC p.506-509 Icarium shattered Karsa's Ironwood blade at the hilt, causing the furious Teblor to knock out the Jhag with a punch to the face. Mappo ended the battle by striking the Teblor in the back of the head with his mace. As both combatants still lived, Mappo was pleased with the results. When Karsa awoke, he discovered that Icarium's work on the landslide had revealed an enormous statue of a seven-headed dog.House of Chains, Chapter 14, US SFBC p.509-511 Karsa later encountered the Jaghut, Cynnigig and Phyrlis, in the Jhag Odhan. As a child, Phyrliss had been impaled upon a T'lan Imass spear that had been driven into the earth unknowingly amidst the ruins of the Azath House mortally wounded by Icarium millennia ago. Before it died, the House's life spirit had joined the spear and Jaghut into one immense and eternal tree. With no memory of his previous actions, Icarium periodically returned to the tree to receive wood for his bow and arrow shafts. Phyrlis rejected his requests for her heartwood, with which the Jhag would create a time mechanism, because the loss would have resulted in her death.House of Chains, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.583/587-588 Later, a band of Tiste Liosan led by Seneschal Jorrude traveled through Seven Cities in pursuit of a band of thieves who had trespassed in Kurald Thyrllan. Lost and bewildered by the strange world they found themsleves in, they sensed the proximity of Icarium, an "old friend" of their people. Jorrude sought out Icarium so the Jhag could "acquaint us with the rigours of this world".House of Chains, Chapter 16, UK MMPB p.676-677 In Midnight Tides During the Tiste Edur invasion of the Letherii Empire, Trull Sengar led fifty of his soldiers across the Katter River at Narrow Chute. The "bridge" over the river was in actuality an enormous and ancient mechanism. It moved almost imperceptibly as if it were a timepiece. Trull's captain, Ahlrada Ahn, discovered a stone panel carved with arcane symbols. He recognised the language as that of the Tusked Man, a mysterious grey-green figure with white tusks sighted now and then by the Den-Ratha over generations on the northern ice.Midnight Tides, Chapter 15, US SFBC p.472-473 In The Bonehunters Icarium and Mappo explored the western shore of the new inland sea now covering Raraku. The Jhag remembered when the same sea covered the land thousands of years ago. Deciding on their next destination, Mappo had to reluctantly reveal that many of the cities Icarium recalled in the region had long since turned to dust.The Bonehunters, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.81-85 Later in their travels, they discovered a vast chasm that had recently been exposed by a shifting of the sand. The two explorers climbed to the chasm's bottom where they found a K'Chain Nah'ruk mechanism, still containing the corpse of its pilot, within a pool of melting Omtose Phellack ice. Mappo realised they had found the entrance to a K'Chain Nah'ruk Skykeep that had mistakenly travelled through a gate into solid bedrock. The Trell found the skykeep's entrance and the pair explored the alien structure. In the skykeep's immense hollow centre, was a fortress floating in space, reached only by a single stone span. Inside the fortress they found the crucified remains of Sorrit, the Eleint aspected to Serc.The Bonehunters, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.148-154/162-167 Icarium was taken by the Tiste Edur to Drift Avalii to help them take the Throne of Shadow. There, Icarium went berserk. To stop him from hurting the army of Shadowthrone, which was composed of children, he was brought to a temporary standstill by Trull Sengar's excellent spearsmanship. However, Trull was overcome. Icarium then faced Quick Ben who would have failed to stop Icarium were it not for the intervention of Eres'al. She rendered him unconscious and healed his mental wounds that had been afflicted after he had wounded Kurald Emurlahn.The Bonehunters, Chapter 24 In Reaper's Gale Bereft of his companion Mappo, Icarium was led to the continent of Lether by Taralack Veed, an Agent of the Nameless Ones, who intended to use Icarium as a weapon to destroy the Emperor of a Thousand Deaths, the Edur Emperor Rhulad Sengar. However, before this could be accomplished, Icarium disappeared into an ancient mechanism, apparently of his own devising. In Dust of Dreams ] The ancient mechanism into which Icarium disappeared, was later thought to have been devised to re-structure the Warrens when activated, causing unpredictable reactions when mages accessed their Warrens on Lether. Icarium reappeared in an ancient K'Chain Che'Malle skykeep during the pivotal battle between the Nah'ruk and the Che'Malle, helping to destroy numerous Nah'ruk skykeeps and seal the portal through which the Nah'ruk were attacking, leaving them trapped to die. In The Crippled God After the battle, Icarium was found unconscious and pinned to the ground by the Forkrul Assail, Sister Calm. She intended to use him as a weapon of last resort to cleanse the world of all human life. Mappo was killed by Sister Calm when he came within sight of his friend. Icarium was saved and released by Ublala Pung, who defeated and killed Sister Calm. He left with Ubala Pung and Ralata, after staring at the body of Mappo and stating in a voice heavy with emotion that he had remembered something. History He was the son of the Jaghut, Gothos.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 23, UK MMPB p.898/899 Little was known about his mother whom the Errant referred to as the 'overgrown hag', possibly implying that Icarium might have been the son of Kilmandaros.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 7, UK BCA edition p.165 She was a member of the Thelomen Toblakai race. Raest was his half-brother. Little was known of Icarium's history. He had wandered the world for millennia. In his early youth, his fatherReaper's Gale, Chapter 7, BCA edition p.165 the Jaghut Gothos, voluntarily took up residence inside a House of the Azath. Icarium, abandoned and not understanding his father's actions, first wandered into the place that would become the city of Letheras. He met K'rul, but did not find answers that would lead him to his father.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 7 Later, he assaulted the Azath House in the Jhag Odhan where his father was. It was at that time that Icarium's legendary rage was unleashed. Icarium mortally wounded the Azath and would have freed his father if his Toblakai companion of the time had not struck him unconscious.House of Chains, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.587 Icarium's efforts left him in a delirious state. The Jhag Odhan House's death weakened the Warren Kurald Emurlahn leaving it open for the destruction and shattering that was visited upon it. This act in turn wounded him mentally, causing him to lose his memory whenever he flew into a rage. He wandered the world suffering from amnesia constantly searching for answers to his past. Cotillion stated that Icarium could be healed through the help of his guide Mappo Runt. The group known as the Nameless Ones decided that he was too dangerous to allow to wander unsupervised, and so had taken it upon themselves to recruit his "guardians", such as Mappo Runt the Trell and later Taralack Veed of the Gral. Their task was to protect Icarium from the world, and protect the world from Icarium. The Jhag had many companions over his lifetime and sensed that he had betrayed or killed them.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 18, US HC p.472 The last before Mappo had taken his own life.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 23, US HC p.574 Some time during the Nameless Ones' stewardship of Icarium they began to subtly increase his power and deadliness, transforming him into a weapon that they could use toward their own hidden goals. When Icarium was recruited by the Tiste Edur as a Challenger to the emperor, en route, he assaulted the First Throne. There he came into contact with the Eres'al, who healed the mental damage/scarring from his wounding of Kurald Emurlahn. Icarium was worshipped by the people of the Cabal Archipelago, who saw him as their One God. He was obsessed with time and was responsible for creating many complicated mechanisms to measure it over the millennia.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 3, US HC p.100 He was the builder of the Wheel of Ages in DarujhistanGardens of the Moon, Dramatis Personae, UK MMPB p.xvi as well as a device found in the ruins of a First Empire city.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 15, US HC p.414 Icarium had once lived among the ancestors of the Teblor of the Laederon Plateau. Seeing the decline and degeneration of their bloodlines, the Jhag had given the Teblor the Laws of Isolation that were used to create their clans.House of Chains, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.70-74 Icarium also attempted to mediate the Spirit Wars on the plateau, but he arrived too late. The T'lan Imass victors knew too well the folly of trying to combat Icarium, as they had other mediators, and so did not try.House of Chains, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.78-85 He was considered a friend by the Tiste Liosan, who knew him as "the maker of time" and "slayer of the ten thousand." Who exactly he slew was unclear. Speculations The Azath House that sheltered Gothos and drove Icarium mad was the same House in the Jhag Odhan that transformed Phyrlis. The House's death led to a "weakening of the fabric" that was sufficient "for the warren to be torn apart". Previously, it had been speculated that the House was Tremorlor. Icarium's legends stated he came from Raraku, home of Termorlor, and Iskaral Pust claimed the House held together a knotted, torn piece of Warren.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 15, US HC p.417 Quotes Fan art gallery Spoiler free images= Icarium Lifestealer.jpeg|link=File:Icarium Lifestealer.jpeg|Interpretation of Icarium by Grimhilde The rage of Icarium by jeanfverreault.jpg|link=File:The rage of Icarium by jeanfverreault.jpg|Interpretation of Icarium by Jeanfverreault Icarium the jhag by deathris.jpg|link=File:Icarium the jhag by deathris.jpg|Icarium the Jhag by DeathriS Waywards by slaine69.jpg|link=File:Waywards by slaine69.jpg|Interpretation of Icarium and Mappo by slaine69 Icarium by Dejan Delic.jpg|link=File:Icarium by Dejan Delic.jpg|Icarium by Dejan Delic |-|Spoiler images= Lifestealer by Shadaan.PNG|Lifestealer by Shadaan|link=File:Lifestealer by Shadaan.PNG Notes and References de:Icarium Category:Jhag Category:Males